Advancements in communication technologies have permitted the development and deployment of new types of communication systems and communication services. Cellular telephony, and associated communication services available therethrough, are popularly utilized by many, typically providing users with communication mobility and also providing the capability of communications when the use of wireline communication systems would not be practical or possible.
While early-generation, cellular communication systems provided primarily for voice communications and only limited data communication services, newer-generation systems increasingly provide for high-speed data communication services at variable data communication rates. A CDMA2000, cellular communication system that provides for EV-DO services is an exemplary type of new-generation, cellular communication system that provides for high-speed data services. Operational details and protocols defining communications and operational requirements of devices of the system are set forth in an operating standard specification. Various aspects of operation of the CDMA2000 EV-DO communication scheme remain to be standardized and certain parts of the existing standard specification are considered for amendment. Various successor-generation communication schemes are also undergoing standardization and yet others are envisioned to be standardized.
For instance, a revision to the standard specification, release B of the CDMA2000 EV-DO specification standard that defines a quick paging channel (QPCH) available upon which to broadcast access-terminal pages by an access network (AN) to an access terminal (AT). The QPCH was adopted in industry contributions 3GPP2 C20-20060323-013R1 and 3GPP2 C20-20060323-003R1 and published in 3GPP2 document C.S0024-B V1.0. Generally, pages are broadcast by the access network to an access terminal to alert the access terminal of a pending communication. And by so alerting the access terminal, the access terminal performs actions to permit the effectuation of the communication. Page indications broadcast upon the quick paging channel are broadcast in a manner that facilitates reduced battery consumption of the access terminal. Increased battery longevity is provided, reducing the rate at which a battery of the access terminal must be recharged. The access terminal is, as a result, able to be operated for a greater period of time between rechargings or battery replacement. The aforementioned promulgations provide for broadcast of a message including page indications upon a physical logical layer that is monitored by the access terminal. The access terminal monitors the QPCH prior to monitoring the control channel to receive regular, control channel MAC (medium access control) messages such as page messages. A quick page message is broadcast upon the QPCH that contains quick page indicators. The quick page message includes a number of quick page indicator slots populated with quick page indicators.
During operation, a mobile station hashes to a quick page indicator location, i.e., slot, within the quick page message based upon a session seed, a 32-bit pseudorandom number, an ATI (access terminal indicator), or other pseudorandom number. If the quick page indicator of the quick page indicator slot to which the access terminal hashes indicates that the access terminal is not being paged, the access terminal enters into a sleep state, a reduced-power state, in which the access terminal does not remain powered at a level to receive the regular control channel MAC messages. Power savings is particularly significant in the event that the control channel MAC messages are lengthy and span multiple control channel frames or capsules.
In the existing scheme, however, the access terminal is susceptible to the occurrence of a false wakeup, that is, the access terminal does not enter into a sleep state but, rather, the access terminal enters into an active state to monitor the regular control channel for reception of regular control channel MAC messages even though there shall be no message for the access terminal. Because the communication system is a multi-user system, there is a possibility that another access terminal that is being paged has its page indication hashed to the same page indication slot. As the number of access terminals that are paged in a system increases, the likelihood of occurrence of a false wakeup correspondingly increases.
A UMB (ultra mobile broadband) standard that shall be published as 3GPP2 Document C.S0084 is anticipated to set forth protocols relating to hashing of multiple paging indicators using a 32-bit, (QuickPageID). The 32-bit value forms an input to a hash function whose resultant hashes are determinative of the bits that are populated with values that identify whether an access terminal is being paged. The value of the 32-bit, quick page ID can be defined with a default value, formed of a hash of a pseudo-random number. The default value is alternately formable in other manners using other suitably-random numbers, such as the least 32-significant bits of the session seed. The anticipated text further includes for the possibility of access network override of a default quick page ID value with an alternate assignation. When the alternate assignation is made, a preferred quick page enable bit is set to a logical value of one, a preferred quick page ID field is set to an overriding value, and the two values are sent to an access terminal in a preferred paging attribute. If the preferred quick page enabled bit is set to the logical one value, the access terminal uses the preferred quick page ID as its quick page ID value.
Bits of the quick page ID are used by the access terminal for partial identity comparison for quick page messages including two, three, or four partial addresses. And, the values are also used for hashing of the paging indicators.
In various scenarios, it is desirable for the default quick page ID to be overridden. For instance, in one scenario, the number of access terminals that are monitoring the quick paging channel is small enough to permit the access terminals each to have its own paging indicator. Sequential assignations, e.g., of quick page IDs are provided to the successive ones of the access terminals.
An analogous approach can be used when two or three paging indicators per page message formats are utilized. There is an increased likelihood of increased false wakeup probability due to the possibility of too many access terminals hashing to the same paging indicator. And, e.g., if a simple modulo function is utilized, uneven hashing distribution also results in an increased false wakeup probability. Additionally, while additional manners, i.e., non-sequential manners, are available by which to take assignations in a manner to enable a small number of access terminals to have unique paging indicators, similar high levels of false wakeup probabilities occur. For instance, a table of pre-computed quick page IDs that map to particular paging indicators can be used. But, such schemes are also of greater complexity than a sequential assignation scheme.
In short, there remains a need for an improved manner by which to provide for assignation of quick page IDs that results in a reduced false wakeup probability.
It is in light of this background information related to paging by an access network of an access terminal that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.